It's the church's fault

I was talking to a lady the other day and she was bemoaning the fact that people don't want to go to church anymore.  I told her that I thought much of it was the church's own fault.  She asked me why I thought that.

These are generalizations, but here is why I think that many people are not interested in many churches.

1.  Pastors and members guilt people to come, to stay, to give and to behave in certain ways.  This creates a sense of fear within a person.  Fear of God and fear of being "wrong."  When people grow up, they get tired of this.

2.  Hidden information.  Members have questions and they should be answered but often are not.  Why did that family stop coming?  What happened?  How much did that project cost?  Who approved that thing?  Why wasn't that committee involved?  Why is just one person or a few people running things?  On and on the questions go.  The problem with not answering questions is that it gives people the message that they don't need to know.  We want you to give us your money and come to church, but don't ask any questions.  When I was the Pastor, I believed in full disclosure.  You want to see the budget?  Sure.  You want to know something?  We told them everything that we could.  When you answer people's questions, you build a culture of trust.

3.  Theology that hurts.  Don't question the Bible.  God is mad at you.  You must do this or you are going to hell.

4.  Irrelevant simplicity.  Blindly going on with the same approach when the world is falling apart around them.  When my parents were going through a rough patch with their adult children [imagine that] their church's pastor told them to keep praying, keep coming to church, keep reading the Bible, and keep giving their money.  They received no practical help and no empathy.

If that is not enough, I think that the list could go on.

To avoid this from sounding like a negative post, let me say this.  If you are a Pastor or a member, make sure that your church is not doing these things.  You have a choice, you have a chance to speak health into your organization.  And when we do that, and ineffective practices are turned around, people will want to return to the organization.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.